112 BRITISH DAIRYING, 



rich in cream, and some very poor. Fig. 24 shows an instru- 

 ment which tests samples of milk in a very few minutes, show- 

 ing the proportion of cream. In this way the relative value of 

 different milks can be ascertained from samples. 



Where coloured cheese is made there is at times a difficulty 

 in getting the colour to stand, and this difficulty is not by any 

 means confined to factory cheese. It is owing, probably, to 

 the action of the fermentive micro-organisms in other words, to 

 acidity. The Cheddar men, as a rule, do not artificially colour 

 their cheese, and they are wise. To colour cheese at all, 

 indeed, is an absurdity, and the sooner it is dropped the better. 

 They may colour the outsides if they like, as the Dutch people 

 do this is a mere fancy, for the most part useless. But to 

 colour the inside of the cheese is a practice which can only be 

 regarded as foolishness. 



True, the people of some of our towns prefer coloured 

 cheese, or think they do ; but this is mere foolishness. Cheese 

 that is coloured cannot by any possibility be intrinsically better 

 than cheese that is not coloured. Annatto costs money, and 

 adds absolutely nothing to the quality of the cheese ; but it 

 adds value, so long as consumers are silly enough to prefer it. 

 That is, these selfsame silly consumers will pay a halfpenny or 

 a penny per Ib. more for a cheese that is coloured than they will 

 for one that is not, and, so long as they will, it is probable that 

 makers will continue to colour their cheese. The practice, 

 however, is less common than it formerly was, and we may hope 

 that, as the masses of the people become more intelligent, it \viil 

 gradually disappear. 



